Trump Says He Almost Talked to Prince Harry About 'Nasty' Meghan Markle Comment — Which He's Now Explaining

"She was nasty to me, and that’s okay for her to be
nasty," Trump told Piers Morgan in an interview set to air Wednesday

In a new interview during his state visit to the U.K.,
President Donald Trump insisted that the world had misunderstood his recent
description of Meghan Markle as “nasty.”

He had not said Meghan was nasty herself, he claimed to
Piers Morgan in a sit-down set to air Wednesday morning.

Rather, Trump said, Meghan had acted nastily by criticizing
him during the 2016 presidential election.

“She was nasty to me, and that’s okay for her to be nasty,”
he told Morgan, according to an advance copy of his quotes released by Good
Morning Britain. “It’s not good for me to be nasty to her and I wasn’t.”

Trump also insisted to Morgan, long a sympathetic
conservative voice, that he had planned to bring up the matter to Prince Harry
when the two met on Monday at Buckingham Palace.

“We didn’t talk about it,” Trump told Morgan, adding, “I was
going to because it was so falsely put out there.”

In an Oval Office interview with The Sun newspaper published
last week, Trump was asked about Meghan’s 2016 disapproval of him while he was
running against Hillary Clinton.

During an interview on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore,
the then-Suits actress called Trump “misogynistic” and “divisive” and also said
she was thinking about moving to Canada if he won the election.

Told this by the Sun, Trump replied, “I didn’t know that.
No, I didn’t know that she was nasty.”

Afterward he insisted it was wrong to report that he had
called Meghan “nasty,” despite the interview being recorded.

On Sunday, before heading to the U.K., Trump told reporters
at the White House he had no reason to clarify what he’d said about Meghan: “I
made no bad comment.”

Still, the flap had not soured him in the slightest on the
royal family, he told Morgan. Trump said he congratulated Harry — who recently
welcomed son Archie with Meghan — during their meeting.

I think he’s a terrific guy. The royal family is really
nice,” Trump said.

Of Meghan said, he said, “She’s doing a good job, I hope she
enjoys her life … I think she’s very nice.”

Trump’s state visit in the U.K. continues Wednesday with a
commemoration of D-Day. After that he and First Lady Melania Trump will travel
to Ireland and then head to France on Thursday.

Though Trump was first invited by Queen Elizabeth for an
official visit in 2017, the trip was repeatedly delayed and he is a divisive
figure in the U.K. In addition to his comment about Meghan, he attacked
London’s mayor as a “loser” as he arrived early Monday.

The trip has included a mix of political and ceremonial
engagements, including a banquet at Buckingham Palace. Meghan, who is on
maternity leave, has not been in attendance.

Trump’s Good Morning Britain interview will air on Wednesday
(6 a.m. local time) on ITV.